Candlelight at Christmas [Katie Fforde]

Fenella and Rupert are organising the perfect Christmas, surrounded by their friends in their beautiful Somerby house.
Until Fenella gets a phone call from her ghastly parents-in-law asking if they can join them for the holiday. Fenella couldn’t possibly refuse and besides, it could be worse.
But when they arrive and the house is suddenly plunged in darkness thanks to a power cut, Fenella knows she has her work cut out to keep everyone happy and pull off the perfect Christmas feast.

My thoughts on the novel:
Published by Cornerstone and written by Katie Fforde, Candlelight at Christmas is a lovely, family-oriented Christmas tale that should be read while being comfortably tucked in by a fireplace, holding a warm cocoa. The major gathering at Fenella and Rupert’s is hectic and sometimes made me think of the early scenes from Home Alone when the whole family is gathered under the McCallisters’ roof.
With many kids around and even an unexpected French guest for an exotic touch, the Christmas dinner doesn’t unfold without a few hiccups along the way. A power outage leads the hosting couple to invite their neighbours over because their cottage relies solely on electricity. It wouldn’t be in the Christmas spirit to let a family go cold and without a proper Christmas dinner, that’s for sure. To wrap this all up, Fenella may have a wonderful piece of news to break to everyone, and nanny Meggie isn’t immune to Etienne’s charm, the French guest with a family who lives in a castle across the sea, no less!
With a turkey cooked on a barbeque and a possible Cupid’s arrow moment, the book is fun and festive, a bit predictable but still enjoyable.Score: ♥ ♥